Movie review: Hemsworth, Hiddleston are good fun in 'Thor: Ragnarok'

Thursday

Nov 2, 2017 at 4:56 PMNov 2, 2017 at 5:03 PM

By Al Alexander/For The Patriot Ledger

The stated goal in the schizophrenic “Thor: Ragnarok” is to liberate the Norse kingdom of Asgard from its Steve “knock it all down” Bannon oppressor. But what’s really going on is the freeing of the Henny Youngman inside Chris Hemsworth. Take my hammer, Please!

Yes, indeed PLEASE – because when the hunky Aussie’s God of Thunder puts the hammer down, Hemsworth breaks into his happy dance, dolling out hilarious one-liners like he’s on the Borscht Belt rather than some cheesy CGI-created set in the stuffy Marvel Universe.

That’s the good news about this third – and best – “Thor” entry. The bad, of course, is that a potential wall-to-wall laughfest keeps getting interrupted by a burdening need on the part of director Taika Waititi to make all the fun conform to the oh-so-tired Marvel formula of including at least a dozen interminable, cacophonous outbursts of cartoon violence.

Not a one of them memorable. Granted, sometimes these alleged “action” scenes are tolerable in Marvel masterpieces like “Spider-Man: Homecoming” and “Captain America: Civil War.” But mostly, they’re like what transpires in “Ragnarok” (which by its Old Norse definition is another word for death and destruction), tonal H-bombs that ruin the flow as they take you right out of the story.

Not that there’s much of a story to begin with. In fact, what writers Eric Pearson, Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost have assembled is pretty scattershot, introducing about a half-dozen quasi-villains who serve no purpose other than giving Thor someone to knock the crap out of between synergetic cameos by other Marvel heroes here to promote their own money-grabbing franchises.

I mean you, Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), although your five minutes with brothers Thor (Hemsworth) and Loki (Tom Hiddleston), just might be the biggest whoop of the movie – if you don’t count the obligatory pop-in by Marvel founder Stan Lee.

Also hogging screen time is the only Marvel character duller than Thor, the fraudulently named Incredible Hulk, who looks every bit as cartoonish as the Jolly Green Giant, sans the cans of processed GMO vegetables.

But you can’t say the big guy doesn’t bring the corn in his constant bickering with Thor, as they try to make nice long enough to save whatever it is they’re saving this go-round. I think it’s Asgard, but we’ll cross that Bifrost when we come to it.

Meanwhile, the writers work overtime introducing colorful new characters for Thor to interact with, including the evil sister he never knew he had, Hela, or as her friends call her, Goddess of Death. She’s played by Cate Blanchett outfitted in tight, black leather onesie and adorned with a ridiculous headgear that makes her look like a cross between Medusa and a reindeer.

She’s the Steve Bannon of the piece, wanting to tear down Asgard and remake it in her own Maleficent image. Blanchett makes Hela a helluva hoot at first, but by the time of her final showdown with her brothers, you’ll be happy to see her go to Hades – if you’ll allow me to mix Norse and Greek mythology.

I think I got the idea of mingling lore from the writers and their bastardization of Norse myth, which they’ve cut with heavy amounts of “Star Wars” legend.

Like the female Han Solo named Valkyrie (an awesome Tessa Thompson from “Dear White People”), who first captures Thor then sells him as scrap on the trash planet of Sakaar, where its foppish ruler and resident MC, Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum having a ball with his best role in years), opts to throw Thor to the lions. Or, in this case, to the Hulk.

If I’m making this sound like a whole lot of fun, it is. And I haven’t even mentioned the Groot-like stoneman, Korg (voiced by Waititi), who steals his every scene.

But, like I said, the ironically dubbed “action” keeps on slowing the film’s momentum. It also repeatedly handcuffs Waititi, the indie director of such small gems as “What We Do in the Shadows” and “Hunt for the Wilderpeople” in which the only “action” was a hilarious rumble between a pack of werewolves and a band of vampires in the former, and a wonderfully silly police chase in the latter.

Personally, I was hoping Waititi would bring that same sort of quirk to the stuffy Marvel formula of knock-down-drag-out. But you can tell the suits at Marvel and Disney kept putting the cuffs on him.

Thankfully, they do let him cut loose with the characterizations and witty dialogue, which are the film’s savior. And the chief benefactor – besides us – is Hemsworth, who proves his outstanding comedic work in the terrible two remakes “Vacation” and “Ghostbusters” were no fluke.

Here, a new Bob Hope is born, as he cracks wise with funny quips and asides, all delivered with impeccable timing.

He’s a blast right from the start, when he’s wrapped in chains and dangled before a big ball of malevolent fire named Surtur (voice of Clancy Brown), who Thor gleefully mocks until he finally breaks loose and douses his captor. It’s a great scene that pulls you instantly into the movie.

Even more, it’s symbolic of Hemsworth being freed of the chains that Marvel has put around his gift for mirth.

It only gets better when Thor returns to Asgard to find his father Odin (Anthony Hopkins) watching a play depicting Loki’s overwrought, Shakespearean death scene from the previous “Thor.”

The horrified look on Hemsworth’s face says it all, as it slowly dawns on him that the man he thinks is Odin is really the shapeshifting Loki.

Like all brothers, they begin with a scrape before settling into a great comic duo. In fact, the entire movie finds Thor stumbling into buddy-comedy situations with Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Valkyrie and Krog, all of them funny and effective.

And “Ragnarok” leaves you wanting more of it , and a terrific soundtrack, which finally gives Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song” the cinematic dues it deserves – twice. Which makes it all the more frustrating that the action keeps putting the brakes on a story that doesn’t need so much fighting, especially at a time when – like “Sullivan’s Travels” proved – what we what we actually need most is a really good laugh.